Sunday, September 28, 2008

21 speedsVintage front and back suspension (replacement elastomers included)V-breaksFront and back baggage racks available. Yes, you can use them without blocking the suspensions!It has not been used freqently in the last few years and is a little bit rusty, but still works fine.

Email me at vlemieux@sfu.ca or call Vincent and Christine at (604) 294-8817

* Location: Burnaby * it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 858695740

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Saturday, September 27, 2008

Friday, September 26, 2008

Some time ago, Sailor and I had a talk over sushi about the newer manufacturing trends in the bicycle industry. One of the items brought up was hydroforming. He was super excited at the thought of someday being able to pen flowing swooping cruiser designs, and have them hydroformed so that he could weld them together, making for aesthetically striking tube shapes. ...and I think that time is almost upon us. Well, maybe not for the average garage builder, but soon. The MTB world has been on this technology for a while, making for much lighter, structurally sound full suspension aluminum frames. Road bikes are in on it too, as a lot of today's frames use a hydroformed front triangle, with a bonded carbon rear triangle.

I was recently linked to this great video from Dedacciai which basically looks like some industry promo reel demonstrating why their hydroforming kicks ass. Morgan, could you translate to verify please?

Being the compulsive Youtube link follower that I am, I stumbled upon this Great DIY hydroforming demonstration (after a couple of mice vs. giant centipede type nature vids of course):

Incredible! This guy has the right idea! Not sure if that tuned pipe is going to actually produce any power on whatever small displacement engine he plans on butting it up to, but who cares! That was rad. Sailor, the next revision of your pedal powered tank is going to be great if you do it this way!

For an actually useful demonstration of how hydroforming works, watch this video.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

From what I've read, it looks like Version 2.0 of the Seymour bomb was a success.Here's what Zoobomber Jordash has to say:

I was near the middle of the group about halfway down the mountain when a big bike passed me, so I drafted her to slingshot myself ahead to catch up with the mini ahead of me. I got up into draft position with the mini and went to pass him but a longboarder (it doesn't matter who) was attempting to pass us both on the same side. The longboarder body-checked me, presumably to keep his board from hitting my tires, and I went down immediately. I slid for a while before hitting the grassy shoulder. Thanks Team Van for picking me up! No hard feelings anywhere. Shit happens.

The best part is that after some first aid, I was able to bomb Mt. Seymour again without incident! It's beautiful. Great high speed corners.

I'm still waiting for an actual flickr set to appear. Its almost been a week!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Cycling has brought me into contact with a lot of really incredible people. People that make changes, people that are creative, people that just do really rad stuff. Two such examples come to mind right now. (not to exclude any other amazing people I know, these two just happen to be on my internet radar at the moment)

Mykle Hansen

He lives in Portland. He's funny as hell. (funnier actually)..and he just made this:He's basically recreated the circuitry behind a cyclocomputer, in Electro luminescent wire format on the back of a biking vest. I think this could go somewhere. I don't think Vancouver drivers would attempt to right hook me if they saw I was going 40km/h. Check it out at speedvest.com

According to the FAQ page, it only goes to 70mph.. which is not quite fast enough for the second person I want to mention in this post.Sam Whittingham

Sam lives on the quiet island of Quadra BC, and he makes amazing bikes. He's also an accomplished track racer, and participates in IHPVA speed challenges yearly. On Sept. 18th he won the decimach challenge (ie 1/10th the speed of sound, 82.3 mph, 132 Kmh) in a Georgi Georgiev designed Varna Diablo III. Turn up your speakers and watch this! The sound of it just cuts right to my spine!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

My mind is blown.Yesterday I had the opportunity to join a great group of riders on a trip to the Metz bicycle museum, in Freehold New Jersey.

The Day's agenda was as follows:-9:06 board the train to Aberdeen-Matawan NJ-Ride to the Metz musem along a scenic rail trail-Ride through Allaire State park to Manasquan NJ (the beach), eat lunch-Ride back up the coastal highway, then again on the Hudson Rail trail to Aberdeen-Matawan-Train back Manhattan

Well.. I messed up right off the bat and either boarded the wrong train, or was given incorrect information by a train agent...and was stuck at Newark NJ station for an hour. I felt bad for holding the group back, but was glad that Scott (the ride organizer) sent them ahead, while he waited for me. Standing around in spandex at a train station is pretty funny. Quite a few people asked me if I raced.

Once in Aberdeen I didn't feel so bad, because Scott got us lost trying to find the trail head. Once we were on it we were flying, then we took a highway shortcut in order to meet up with the rest of the crew already at the Museum.

The museum is run by a collector named David Metz. Hes an incredibly healthy and sharp 92 year old man, who has spent a lifetime cycling and collecting bicycles. He joked that in the next few years he may need a cane. The passion is strong in this man.

He was waiting for us (Scott and I) to arrive before he started his chronological ordered tour of the museum... and for that I am grateful. He had some incredible stories about many of the bikes in his collection, and the people that they have brought him in contact with.

The lighting wasn't too hot inside, but I was snapping away with my phone none the less. History this good deserves to be documented. Flickr set here.

One of my favorite bikes there:

After the museum, we agreed that we could all make it to the coast before needing lunch. I don't know how far it was, but it felt like over an hour... so probably 40km.

Once we refueled and made some bicycle adjustments we were back on the road. Sadly a couple of us had to drop out at this point so they could make it back to Brooklyn for prior engagements that evening. So the pack got a bit smaller. With 7 people, pace lines were more manageable.

When we got to the coast road, a couple of the riders seemed to drop the hammer. Since they were all on geared roadies and I was on my Spicer, it was all I could do to tuck down, wheelsuck, and spin for my life. That felt like a good half an hour of suffering.

Eventually they slowed down once we reached the NJ highlands, and I was able to drop them on the moderate inclines. There was one bomb downhill that wouldn't end and I started to fear for the contents of my jersey pockets while spinning at 160+ RPM.

We made it back to Aberdeen-Matawan with about 20 minutes to spare before the train.. so naturally, there was a 7-11 and beer store run.

The train back into Manhattan was interesting to say the least. It was 8:00pm on a Saturday night, and the train was FULL of Jersey kids heading into the big city to party. Hilarious!

Despite my feet feeling like they were on fire, it was good to get back into midtown Manhattan traffic, to which I am so accustomed to. I sprinted up Broadway towards home, thinking about how great a bath would be. All in all, 145km for the day, and totally worth every meter.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Last night I attended race #2 of 8 in a sprint series fittingly titled RAT PACK HUSTLE.

I had found the blog the day before, and realized how close it was to my place in Harlem. It would be silly of me not to attend really. Its organized by a guy named Dan Bones, and takes place on a somewhat deserted bike path down by the Hudson river. I guess they started this last year, and since it went over so well, they're doing it again. They do it right too. One guy brought one of those walking measuring stick things, so they could mark out the course length. Timing was done by FRS radio and two stopwatches started at the same time. About 20 guys showed up. Some with road cleats and spandies, some on their street bikes. Most people were pretty relaxed, and a handful of guys shot photos of the action.

Oh,.. and get this, instead of trackstand starts, they use holders.

I won both of my races, with 250m times of something like 21:43s and then 21:67s... However, this was just a bit shy of the final elimination cutoff. Its alright though. I felt good about it. I knew going into it that my 172.5mm crank arms turning a 42/15 gear wasn't going to be the fastest combo out there. I think one guy laid down a sub 20s time even!

Once I was out, it was a bit of a relief, because that meant I could lighten up my bag a bit for the ride home, by downing some tall cans of bud (yuck). I basically hung out at the finish line helping Dan do timing for the finals.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Andy spent an hour and a half blasting the gang green off Rocky's fork and polishing it to perfection. I spent about the same amount of time with a multi-stage clearcoat and sand. The result: a refinishing project that turned into a piece of art. This bike is officially mine now.

Here it is. My first post as an official Project-B member. My report on the current status of our foreign correspondent, Lyle, and what riding like a bit of an idiot in the Big Apple is like (My first post was actually going be about hauling a Bob trailer full of racing gear - including wheels - with my track bike to Trackfest #2 in Victoria but I failed to get any photos of myself with my aerohelmet on while pulling my trailer).

In the interests of full disclosure I have to let it be known that I'm not a regular fixed-gear street riding with no brakes kind of guy but factoring transportation to & from and the conditions of the riding I was about to get involved in, bringing my track bike (with a brake) seemed the way to go. I also figured that if I'm going to do some bar-scraping fixed street riding it might as well be in NYC.

First off, Lyle is great. Making fools of the Central Park roadies and dicing through city streets with two-tonnes of wood planks strapped to his bike. What more can I say...

I'm sure Lyle has touched on this already but street riding in NYC (fixed or otherwise) is quite different than it is here. The flow is different. Everyone breaks the rules of the road but within all of that rule breaking there is still a certain code of conduct. It took me a couple of days of just sticking to Lyle's wheel to learn it but it's sort of an "If you're going to disregard the light or whatever and it's my right of way, if you're quick about, that's cool I guess." This goes for cyclists, motorists & pedestrians. That said, I still had a few horn honks directed my way but what are you going to do? This also actually relates to another element of the flow in NYC. Even if you're wronged or you wrong someone else, it just gets let go of, 'cause man with Manhattan alone being over 75% of the landmass of all of Vancouver but with the building & street density of our downtown core, it's just going to happen again.

And again and again and again.

Of course, this is with exception, but I witnessed circumstances that had they happened in Vancouver people would have been chasing one another for blocks screaming their heads off and trying to kill one another. Maybe that's the problem with a city our size? Small enough to still understand the official, proper rules of the road yet big enough for them to not always apply yet young enough for no one to understand how to accept it. In this respect, NYC is very different. Lyle and I blew a lot of red lights with a cop or two right there, watching us and doing nothing. Then again, pedestrians do the same so what's a cop to do? Even with their interceptors we would have been able to lose them easily enough.

So yeah, I guess riding in New York gave me a different perspective on riding in Vancouver. Everyone here needs to chill out and let shit slide a little more - including myself. Even if the other person pulls a dough-head move (no matter if they are on foot, a bicycle or another planet) just let it go 'cause man, it's just going to happen again.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Today's tagline deserves an explanation. I came out of my bedroom this morning to Nick saying "I lost a brifter last night". The ratcheting mechanism on the rear shifter is indeed non-operational. After objecting to any thought of the 243 going downtown, I had a shower, made up a Bialetti, threw on Dimmu's Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, and helped him lock the rear derailleur in his gear of choice. It's 8:15, and he's now on the way to work with a ghetto two-speed.